To reinforce Don's comments, I've lived in several houses, none of which
I wired, and found broken ground wires, broken neutral wires, broken hot
wires, outlets with the hot and neutral wires reversed, and outlets with
the ground and neutral wires reversed. I strongly suspect that if
reverse wiring the hot and ground weren't a self-limiting entry for the
Darwin Award, I'd have seen this one too.
Rick's Rule of Electrical Work: Double-check EVERYTHING. NOTHING is
safe until proved safe.
Rick Hampton, WD8KEL
Don Wilhelm wrote:
Jesse,
If your 'table mat' is really an anti-static mat, it should have a 1 megohm
resistor built into the attachment cord - check it with your ohmmeter.
It is OK to attach it to a utility grounding point - I remove the plate
mounting screw on a standard receptacle and attach the wire there (but make
certain it is actually grounded first by checking continuity to the ground
pin on a 3 prong socket - in the US, the center rounded pin should be
ground, but if you are not certain about it, check with an electrician or
someone who does know 'which pin is what' on the receptacles - there is
dangerous AC voltage on the pins - BE SAFE! There are testers that simply
plug into a receptacle and show if the ground is connected and if the
receptacle is wired properly, I suggest that you obtain one and check before
sticking any probe into the rectangular holes in the receptacle. If your
household wiring conforms to code, any metal parts associated with the
wiring should be grounded, but never trust it until you verify (by testing).
I wired my house myself and have a lot of confidence in the wiring, but I
still check to be certain - stuff can happen over time and ground
connections can loosen on occasion.
73,
Don W3FPR
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